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Congratulations Stan Musial

I don't know if this is appropriate being that it is a Reds fan forum but I think if you are fan of baseball, it is an interesting story. I want to congratulate Stan Musial for receiving the Medal of Freedom today. It is the highest award a civilian can receive. Here is a great article by Bernie Miklasz describing what Musial means to baseball and why this award is important.

Re: Congratulations Stan Musial

Nice article. Thanks for posting. The article mentioned how Musial was not voted onto the All Century Team by the fans, which was crazy. Musial wasn't colorful, he didn't feud with other players or sportswriters, he didn't marry a movie star, his cap didn't fly off as he ran the bases---he just showed up, played virtually every game, every season, hustled all the time, and hit .330 with power.
I once read an anecdote about John F. Kennedy meeting with Musial before a game in 1960 when JFK was running for president. Kennedy told Musial that he couldn't understand why people said Musial was too old to play baseball (Stan was 39) while Kennedy, age 43, was too young to be president. A year or two later Stan met Kennedy at another game and told him "we fooled them Mr. President."

Re: Congratulations Stan Musial

I always thought Musial was one of the most classy individuals to ever play the game. Baseball has always needed more like him. He retired the year I was born so I don't remember him as a player. He's one of the greats of the past I wish I could have seen play.

Re: Congratulations Stan Musial

Great SI piece on Musial by Joe Posnanski in this thread. I know at the time of its writing there was a campaign to get him awarded the Medal of Freedom.

Underneath it all, we're all baseball fans and if we can't celebrate the rich heritage of the game whatever uniform it might wear, we'd all be the poorer for it. Congratulations to Stan and his family and Cardinals for a well-deserved award.

Re: Congratulations Stan Musial

The Hall of Fame Monitor created by Bill James gives a score of 100 to the average member of the Hall of Fame. Stan Musial's HOF Monitor score is 454, the highest of any player in the history of the game.

Re: Congratulations Stan Musial

I think the amazing thing about Stan on the field is that he retired with something like 17 MLB records.

In that article, Bob Costas encapsulated it the best. Stan simply didn't have that one thing he could hang his hat on such being the last player to hit .400 like Ted Williams did or he didn't have the HR record when he retired. That's one of the reasons why he doesn't get the recognition of Mantle or DiMaggio. He was simply consistently brilliant.

Its also amazing that he got his nickname "The Man" from New York where most of the time that fan base was somewhat hostile to opposing players. He was just generally liked by almost everyone in baseball.

“Our next home stand follows this road trip.”

“I just want to tell everyone Happy Easter and Happy Hanukkah.” says on the day before Easter

Re: Congratulations Stan Musial

During my younger years, I was quite the autograph hound at baseball card shows. I went to one where The Man was signing - however, the number of autographs he was signing was somewhat limited.
I found out when my turn came up - he actually talked with me. Not to me or at me, but with me. I was just a kid of 14, and in freaking, totally in awe with this guy, and here was this legend willing to toss the BS around with me for a few minutes. Signing the card actually seemed rather secondary.
Even more impressive was that he knew his stuff. Mind you, this was around 1982 - the baseball card hobby wasn't anywhere near the huge thing it is now. However, he still asked me if I was sure I wanted the card signed, as (he stated), it would devalue the card. When I told him I could care less about the monetary value, that the value was worth so much more to me personally to be able to look at that card with his name on it, he smile lit up the room. BTW, he also knew that card was a 1960 edition without looking at the back.
Stan Musial is a beautiful man. There. I said it.

Re: Congratulations Stan Musial

I know I'm quibbling, but Ted Williams had a helluva lot more to hang his hat on than a .406 season.

Williams had the military years in the middle of his career, but I think that career would compare very favorably to Stan the Man.

Ted Williams hit .406 in his 3rd season, at age 38 he hit .388, in between he hit above .340 8 times, missed 5 seasons and hit .318 and .317 the other 2 seasons, led the league in ob% 9 times, slg% 8 times and OPS 9 times.

Re: Congratulations Stan Musial

I know I'm quibbling, but Ted Williams had a helluva lot more to hang his hat on than a .406 season.

Williams had the military years in the middle of his career, but I think that career would compare very favorably to Stan the Man.

I don't think Mike was dissing Ted Williams or anything...just pointing out the fact that Stan Musial didn't have a note-worthy stat that stood out among others and was something fans pointed to. Williams was obviously a once in a lifetime player, but hitting .400 does tend to be what people comment about first in regards to him.

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